The Doctor and the Rose
by blissfulwriter
Summary: When the Doctor and Donna leave Bad Wolf Bay, Rose is left with a version of the Doctor even she doesn't fully know. Will her feelings for him finally be returned, or will the Doctor's obsession for roaming leave her alone yet again? Rose/Ten, JE setting


**Summary: As the Doctor and Donna depart Bad Wolf Bay for the very last time, Rose is left with the man she both knows so well, and doesn't know at all. Is this new Doctor really everything the old one was? And even if he is, could he ever bear to stay with Rose, or will she have to let him go... again? Rose/Ten pairing, little bit of angst with a whole lotta love xD  
**

**Author's Notes:** _Hello, this is my first and probably only fanfiction :P After watching 'Journey's End' I HAD to get this out of my system (despite the fact that I've never written fanfiction before), and wrote this all in about an hour. Please read and review, and I might be inspired to write more xD _

Rose looked at the Human Doctor, and he looked at her. The whir of the TARDIS slowly faded as it materialised out of this universe, and out of Rose's life.

They watched it fade in silence, hands locked together in the usual way. It was so familiar, so much a part of Rose's being, that she'd hadn't until this moment realised how much the Doctor's hand in hers defined her life. She felt now that the time she'd spent without him, when his touch had been but a sweet memory, was like a life only half-lived. With the familiar warm feel back on her skin, Rose felt whole again. But still, she couldn't help but worry about the man who stood beside her now. She looked at him again, taking in his every feature. The deep brown eyes that held Time's secrets in their depths, the scruffy hair that refused to be tamed… he was even wearing similar trainers to the ones he used to. He was the same Doctor. Not different, not changed in any way. The exact same man.

Rose had expected to feel something new with this other Doctor, something like when he'd first regenerated into his current form and she'd felt all disorientated. She thought she'd need time to adjust to him. But she knew now as she looked upon his face that she'd been wrong. Rose felt the familiar tug at her heart that pulled her towards the Doctor no matter how far away: this dimension or the next. Rose never thought she'd feel that tug for any other man, and she was right. Only the Doctor could make her feel that way. Only the Doctor… and his half-human counterpart.

The Doctor turned to her, his eyes intense in the grey Norwegian sun.

"Rose," he said simply.

Rose bit her lip, and looked away. She couldn't bear what would come next, but she knew it had to be said.

"Doctor…" she began. "Doctor… I know how you feel. I know you could never live like this. So I understand. And I won't stop you."

She didn't look up at him as she spoke, her eyes watching the sand swirl around their feet in the wind.

"Travelling was everything to you, it was your whole life," she continued, forcing herself to say the words despite the hole they opened in her heart. "And now, with the TARDIS gone… I guess you'll just have to travel around this world. It's a big place, so I know you'll enjoy it. I just want to say…" Rose had to pause, and take a deep breath in order to quell the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She wouldn't cry any more.

"…Thank you. For everything. And I'll miss you."

She tried then to release the Doctor's hand, but he was gripping it tightly. Rose took a small step away from him, but he didn't let go, standing like an immovable statue on the shore. Rose made the mistake of looking up at him, and the tears began to slowly fall. He was so right, everything about him felt like home. But Rose knew that she couldn't make him stay. The Doctor was a traveller, never tied to one place or one life for long. To deny him his constant urge to move on would be like caging a wild animal, and Rose wouldn't ever hurt him like that.

The Doctor spoke into the silence, his soft voice still cutting easily through the whistling of the sand over the dunes.

"Rose, what are you saying?"

Rose bit her lip hard, the pain nothing compared to the tearing of her heart.

"You're human now, you won't live for hundreds of years anymore. I understand that. But you can see a lot of the world in fifty years or so. So if you want to go, if you want to explore and see as much of Earth as you can, then leave. I won't hold it against you. I could never…"

She trailed off in a whisper, unable to finish the painful words. The Doctor would leave her again, and she'd be alone once more. She imagined it would be worse this time, always knowing he was on the same Earth but unable to reach him. But she would bear it, for him. He'd never have to know how much it killed her every day when he wasn't in her life.

The Doctor squeezed Rose's hand, and turned her to face him. His soft fingers came up to trace the line of her jaw, a gentle movement the Time Lord had never done to her before. Rose stared into his eyes, unable to draw her gaze away.

"Rose, I'm not going anywhere. This world holds nothing for me if you're not here. Don't you understand?" he asked, his brown eyes almost smouldering as he beheld her. "You are the reason I'm here. You are the reason I haven't fallen apart, all these months. There were times when I thought the universe was going to end, and I thought of you. You, Rose Tyler, ridiculous human that you are, are everything to me."

Rose let out a sob. She felt like an immeasurable weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and she threw herself into the Doctor's arms with a cry.

"I thought…" she said, her voice muffled slightly by the Doctor's embrace, "that you didn't do domestics."

The Doctor laughed slightly. "Maybe not as a Time Lord. But as a human, well, I suddenly find myself very tired of all this moving around. I think I'd like to spend a little time somewhere and settle down. With the occasional trip to Vanuatu in the holidays, of course."

Rose smiled as she pulled back to look at the Doctor, his goofy grin sending her heart soaring. He really meant it, she could see in his eyes. He wanted to stay with her. They'd never have to be apart.

"We'll go travelling," she promised. "I'll take you around the world."

"There's no hurry," the Doctor replied, his voice suddenly intense again. "You take me around the world every time I look at you."

Rose smiled, and lay her head back against the Doctor's chest.

"Too cheesy?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Oh yeah."

"Ah, well I'll have to get used to this human behaviour thing. But that's okay, I've got the rest of my life to get settled, find the lay of the land, and all that. Although, as they say, time waits for no man." The Doctor's expression was contemplative, but then he broke into a wide smile. "But some how I don't think that rule quite applies for Time Lord-Human crosses."

Rose laughed again, and the Doctor joined in, their laughter sounding like bells across the bleak beach.

"My Doctor," Rose whispered, sighing as she wrapped her arms tighter around the extraordinary man that she loved.

The Doctor rested his chin on her head, brushing his lips over her blonde hair once lightly. "My Rose," he replied.


End file.
